


Invisible Signals

by ViimaTheFailcat



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Autistic Character, Awkward Flirting, Don’t copy to another site, Friends to Lovers, Holiday Fic Exchange, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Not Beta Read, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 12:11:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17182754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViimaTheFailcat/pseuds/ViimaTheFailcat
Summary: My gift for rotomranger on the tumblr ACS holiday swap! My prompt was "Giovanni tries to woo Cyrus with Dawn and/Cynthia as wingmen but the latter's just completely oblivious".I hope you like it!





	Invisible Signals

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in like three days so it _miiiiight_ be a lil sloppy...

“You want us to do  _ what _ ?”

 

Giovanni was a man who doesn’t spook easily. But now, that he had the previous and the current champion of Sinnoh both staring at him in utter disbelief, he couldn’t help but feel a little disarmed.

 

Giovanni suppressed a wince and did not loosen his tie despite how much he wanted to.

 

“You heard me.”

 

Cynthia and Dawn glanced at each other. To Giovanni’s shock, they didn’t start laughing. Instead, they got terrifyingly serious.

 

Cynthia pressed a finger to her lips.

 

“Let me get this straight.”

 

Giovanni nodded.

 

“Cyrus, who I have been friends with since, what, middle school.”

  
“M-hm.”

 

“Cyrus, who has been my shoulder to cry on ever since, as I have been the same for them.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Cyrus, who, at this point, is probably the one I would call my best friend.”

 

“Th-the same man.”

 

“And whom I am  _ incredibly _ protective of, despite their… past troubles.”

 

Giovanni was starting to regret the cup of cappuccino he had had earlier. “... Yeeees?”

 

Cynthia pressed her palms together and pointed her fingertips at Giovanni. “So let me ask you this. What is it exactly that you want, from Cyrus? Just one night of hot sweaty s-”

 

“Arceus no!” Giovanni interrupted, while Dawn gasped “ _ Cynthia! _ ” in mock horror.

 

Cynthia hid a laugh in her fist while Giovanni adjusted his collar. He didn’t expect this conversation to be  _ easy _ , but now he wasn’t sure if this was better or worse than Cynthia and Dawn laughing to his face.

 

“No, I just… I want to see if there’s… a possibility of something between us.”

 

“Like what?” Dawn asked innocently, leaning her chin to her hands.

 

“Wh… Something that, uh, adults involved in a…” God, he really was going to have to say it. “... romantic relationship have.”

 

Cynthia nodded slowly. “So what you want is a rela-”

 

“What kind of things?” Dawn asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.

 

For a moment, Giovanni considered telling her to shove it, but a. Dawn was the champion and b. he had already swallowed his pride once. Doing it again wouldn’t hopefully be as bitter as the first time.

 

So he took a deep breath and spoke. “Companionship. Someone who would ask about my day and whose day I could ask about. Someone I don’t have to impress all the time. And… maybe, if it goes well… Someone who I could go home to.” He cleared his throat. “You know.”

 

He finally looked back up at the two women. Cynthia had her hand pressed on her chest and a moved smile. Dawn was smiling too, but hers was…

 

“And hot, sweaty sex?”

 

Cynthia gasped in mock horror. “Dawn!”

 

Giovanni rubbed his eyes. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, I’ll just leave.”

 

“Nonono! We are!” Cynthia said while Dawn grabbed his arm.

 

“Yeah, I just couldn’t resist,” the champion laughed. “I’m sorry,” she added, serious now.

 

Giovanni crossed his arms and grunted.

 

“But now that I see that you’re also serious and sincere about this and that you don’t just want a one-time thing,” Cynthia said, “Because I  _ was _ worried about that.”

 

“I wouldn’t have asked if I that was the case,” Giovanni replied bluntly, “I… can’t get a good read on Cyrus and all my previous flirting attempts have fallen flat.”

 

Cynthia nodded and hummed. “Cyrus  _ can _ be a little dense when it comes to romance.”

 

“What you should do is to ask about their interests,” Dawn said, “and just fucking. Let them infodump on you. You don’t even have to understand what they’re saying, just listening to them talk about something they’re passionate about should make you blip on their radar of good people.”

 

Giovanni nodded slowly. That did make sense. “So… ask about a current project of theirs?”

 

Dawn nodded. “Yup!”

 

“But also learn that not every silence needs to be filled with talking,” Cynthia added, “Sometimes they’re comfortable with just sitting in the same room while you’re both doing your own thing. We spent hours and hours hanging out like that in middle school and high school.”

 

Giovanni frowned. That sounded like what his Persian sometimes does. But it also sounded like something… he and Cyrus sometimes did anyway. Like Giovanni would be stress-cooking in the kitchen and Cyrus would appear and do something on their tablet.

 

“This is surprisingly difficult,” Cynthia hummed, “Cyrus never talked about having a crush, as long as I’ve known them.”

 

“Does Cyrus even do the whole relationship thing?” Dawn asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Cynthia said, “We talked about that like, once. I remember Cyrus saying that they’ve probably had one crush in their entire life, but that they’d have to try dating to see if it’s their thing.”

  
“They’ve never dated anyone before?” Giovanni asked in disbelief.

 

“Not that I know of.”

 

Giovanni sighed. No pressure.

 

“But you did the right thing asking us,” Dawn beamed, “We’ll help you sweep Cyrus right off their feet! Just trust us!”

 

“Yes, and I thank you for that. With these tips, I think I can at least start moving closer…”

 

Dawn slammed her hands onto the table. “We can do better than that! We can give you assistance.” Her eyes glinted dangerously. “On the  _ field _ .”

 

Giovanni pursed his lips. “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary,” is what he said.  _ Please don’t do that _ , is what he meant.

 

Despite that, Giovanni somehow found himself at some kind of science exhibition with Cyrus. And Dawn and Cynthia following them a few feet away in disguise.

 

“I didn’t know you were interested in quantum physics,” Cyrus said.

 

Quantum physics? Is this what this exhibition was about? Giovanni faked a light chuckle. “You know. I dabble.”

 

Cyrus nodded. “I’ve been meaning to read into quantum physics myself, but I haven’t had the chance to.”

 

So Cyrus isn’t familiar with quantum physics either. Great.

 

“I… I’m looking forwards to this,” Cyrus continued. Their tone was almost bashful. They weren’t looking at Giovanni, but then again, Cyrus almost never did.

 

Giovanni blinked. Oh. He glanced at Dawn and Cynthia behind them who gave him enthustiastic thumbs-ups. Well. Maybe this  _ was _ working.

 

The two (plus Dawn and Cynthia) made their way to the first item of he exhibition, which appeared to be a model of some kind. Cyrus stopped in front of it.

 

“Do you know what this is?” Cyrus asked.

 

“Oh. Uh…” Giovanni hurriedly searched for a plaque that would explain. He found it and read it out loud, not understanding most of the words used.

 

Cyrus, however, didn’t either seem to notice or care. They hung on to every word that Giovanni awkwardly read out.

 

At the next item, Cyrus repeated the question. And Giovanni, again, just read the plaque. Cyrus, again, listened like intently, as if Giovanni was an expert. This pattern repeated at the next item. And the item after that. Giovanni had no idea how and why Cyrus has appointed him as the local quantum physics expert, but here he was, assigned as the professor on this impromptu lecture and severly underqualified. Everytime he glanced at Dawn and Cynthia as a silent cry of help, the two just gave him two thumbs-up and huge grins.

 

This was Giovanni’s life now.

 

Luckily, Giovanni was used to lying, acting and generally bullshitting his way through many things. He didn’t expect his morals to get in the way either, but as time went on, he started feeling more and more anxious about pretending to actually know anything about quantum physics.

 

Thank Arceus Cyrus seemed blissfully unaware of Giovanni’s plight. Or ignoring it. Giovanni just cannot read that guy…

 

“Giovanni…”

 

Uh oh. That was a tone that Giovanni has never heard before.

 

“Yes?” Giovanni’s eyes raked over Cyrus’ face, trying to read their mood. It was hard, though, because Cyrus still wouldn’t meet Giovanni’s eye.

 

Cyrus didn’t say anything, they just shifted closer to Giovanni. Uh. Okay then. Not that Giovanni minded this. Being close to Cyrus was what he was going for, after all.

 

As it turned out, that small gesture from Cyrus calmed Giovanni down greatly. The latter half of the exhibition was way easier. The occasional brush against his arm from Cyrus was… soothing.

 

The rest of the exhibition went on way smoother. Giovanni even forgot that Dawn and Cynthia were following them. By the end of the tour, Giovanni had learned a lot about quantum physics.

 

“Well, that was… the exhibition,” Giovanni said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

 

“M-hm,” Cyrus agreed.

 

“Are you hungry? I’m starving.” Giovanni makes a move to start walking, but Cyrus grabs his arm.

 

“Wait.”

 

Here it was again, the weird tone that Cyrus had earlier.

 

Giovanni braced himself. He was an adult, he could handle this… whatever was coming.

 

“I… I really enjoyed being here today,” Cyrus said, looking at Giovanni’s chest pocket. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

 

Giovanni smiled and patted the Cyrus’ hand that was still on his arm. “Anytime, Cyrus. I had a blast too.”

 

There was a tiniest hint of a smile on Cyrus’ lips. Their eyes flickered to Giovanni’s eyes, bouncing between Giovanni’s eyes, as if analyzing. Their tongue briefly poked out to their lips, drawing Giovanni’s attention. Cyrus swallowed visibly. Their arms moved, to gently grasp hold on Giovanni’s biceps. 

 

Cyrus stepped closer and kissed Giovanni. A clumsy, but gentle press of lips, gone as quickly as it had come.

 

Cyrus stepped back, cheeks deep pink.

 

Giovanni’s brain took several dozen seconds to process what just happened.

 

“I… Wh… I’m sorry, where did that come from?!”

 

Cyrus’ blush drained in a flash and they looked panicked. “I… I thought this was a date.”

 

“I… Yes? But I… I thought you didn’t know? I thought you didn’t realize I’ve been flirting with you for the past two months?”

 

Cyrus blinked. “I… I did realize. Didn’t  _ you _ notice I was flirting with you too?”

 

Giovanni stared. “You… what?”

 

“For the whole exhibition…”

 

Giovanni frantically thought about their interactions for the past two hours, trying to find something from Cyrus that might have been flirtatious. All they did was ask about the exhibition items…

 

“Because quantum physics is one of your interests, so I asked you to tell me about it…”

 

Ah.

 

Giovanni shook his head. A chuckle escaped him, the absurdity of the situation finally catching up with him.

 

“Wh-what is it?” Cyrus asked.

 

Giovanni shook his head again. “I’ll tell you over lunch. Shall we?” He pressed a quick kiss to Cyrus’ cheek before offering Cyrus his arm. 

 

Cyrus wrapped their arm around it. “Alright.”

 

The two left the science museum, blissfully unaware that Dawn and Cynthia had left ages ago.


End file.
